(Third in a series saluting local historical writers past and present)

James Doyle Davison (1910-2003) will undoubtedly be best remembered as the editor of the definitive Wolfville history, Mud Creek. He was a prolific historical writer, however, co-authoring and editing three Baptist church histories (Springhill, Margaree and Berwick) writing a trio of books on the Planter family, the Chipmans, a history of the Davison family (Planter Davison Fivesome) a book on camping in northern Nova Scotia and several historical papers centered on Wolfville.

One of Davison’s last works (published in 1990) was a history of the old Wolfville burial ground, What Mean These Stones. This book resulted from Davison supervising the restoration of the Wolfville burial ground on Main Street, which was opened in 1763. Of the trio of Chipman books, the most interesting is titled Handley Chipman, Kings County Planter. The life of Handley Chipman (1717-1799) and early Planter life in Kings County is examined in detail in this book.

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At least as late as the early 1900s, there was a Mi’kmaq encampment about a kilometre north of downtown Kentville. The camp was in a large stand of pines (now long gone) between Cornwallis Street and Oakdene Avenue in the area now bisected by Wade and Prince Street.

I heard about the camp from my father who remembered seeing it when he was a boy. As he recalled it, the camp was only there in the spring and through the summer months.

That the Mi’kmaq camped where they did, close to a thriving village, isn’t surprising. A local historian, who over a century ago wrote extensively about the Mi’kmaq and Acadians in Kings County newspapers, penned several stories about native fishing in and around Kentville. This was Edmond J. Cogswell, a court magistrate whom I’ve quoted here before.

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Thanks mainly to the railroad, Kentville late in the 19^th century was firmly established as the leading retail and business centre in Kings County. The W & A Railway had solidified its position in the Valley by merging with the Western Counties Railway and incorporating by an Act of Parliament in 1885 as the Dominion Atlantic Railway. With its headquarters remaining in Kentville, this incorporation would solidify Kentville’s claim as the dominant town in the Annapolis Valley.

In 1885, Kentville boasted five or six small hotels (the number depending on which source you accessed), an assortment of retail stores, a few industries and a branch of the Bank of Nova Scotia. Yet to come a few years later was the magnificent Aberdeen Hotel, which was destined to be the finest hotel of the time in the Annapolis Valley.

Late in the 19^th century, iconic photographer A.L. Hardy arrived in Kentville and quickly set about preserving images of the town. One of the images Hardy captured was of Aberdeen Street looking south from the future site of the Aberdeen Hotel. It is the scene in this photograph that Centreville artist Ed Hollett used as a model to create a painting of Kentville as it appeared in 1885. Hollett used a photograph from Louis Comeau’s A. L. Hardy collection. The painting was commissioned several years ago by the Kentville Development Corporation Ltd. and is currently being raffled by the Kentville Historical Society. This is a fundraiser for the Society and tickets are available at $5 each.

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Hailed as the first institution in Canada to be established by a provincial government for treatment of tuberculosis, the Nova Scotia Sanatorium – the ”San” – opened just outside Kentville in 1904.

Yet there was a precedent that has practically been forgotten. Years earlier, around 1899, Dr. George Erastus DeWitt (1842-1924) opened the Wolfville Highlands Sanatorium just above the town. A practising physician, DeWitt was Wolfville’s medical health officer and was active in town politics, serving as a councillor and mayor.

Dr. DeWitt was a pioneer in the field of preventive medicine, especially in the treatment of tuberculosis. But except for brief mentions in a couple of history books, he has never been formally recognised for this work. His Wolfville Highlands Sanatorium for the treatment of “incipient consumption,” was established in a period when relatively little was known about the disease. As mentioned, DeWitt opened his clinic several years before the Nova Scotia Sanatorium and his “cure,” consisting mainly of rest, diet and fresh air was adopted by the San.

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